So many doctors, so little time

kw: local events, observations, medicine

To my younger readers: don't get old. Do gain experience, do grow wiser, but if you can bypass that getting older stuff…! It has not been a good week, so far. Grossness alert: I'll try to be discreet, but there's no hiding some things.

Monday, a double invasion: A male has two places a catheter may be inserted. My urologist had convinced me to get a Urodyne test. It determines if the bladder pressure during and just before urination poses a risk to the kidneys. A bladder catheter is used to fill it with saline while back pressure is monitored. The patient/victim reports on how it feels from time to time. A rectal catheter is used to get electrodes where they can measure the myoelectric signals and a second kind of back pressure. A few other electrodes are attached to "nearby areas". I've had cystoscopy before, and that is uncomfortable enough. This time catheter insertion simply hurt. I think a blunter end would have been better. Bottom line: My kidneys are not at risk. But I have to take a few days of antibiotics, as a preventive measure.

Tuesday, seeing things: I've had retinal hemorrhages a few times in the past forty years. They typically dissolve and vanish in about three weeks. This time I had a large one, fortunately off-center, but it wasn't going away on schedule, so I'd gotten a Tuesday AM slot to let my ophthalmologist have a look. The good news: It is indeed a hemorrhage, not some tumor or other fearful thing. The bad news: there is a little separation of layers in the middle of it, so I'll be seeing a retinal specialist in a few days to see if it needs attention. "Attention" usually means doing something with a laser, either to reattach a layer or to prevent further unzipping. I tried going back to work in the afternoon, but my eyes were still dilated and I couldn't read the computer screen well enough to do any work.

Wednesday, a nip and a tuck: I had my annual complete physical exam, and with the prior two days' events, had plenty to report. I also showed my doctor something on my arm, and said I'd thought it a wart and tried to freeze it off. It came right back. "That's not a wart." A little while later, in comes a nurse with needles and scalpels and things, and I had it removed, definitively. Nice chat with doc and nurse while numbing occurs. Pathologist will soon report whether they need to go back to remove more "margin". Now I have a few stitches to shepherd for the coming week. To top it off, there was no record of recent inoculations, so I got a TDaP, which is the updated version of DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) vaccines. Any shot with the "T" component gets sore, so I can't sleep on that side for a night or two.

Other than a niggling little concern about the retinal bubble, I have a lot fewer worries than I had on Sunday. I'm pretty much good to go for another year.